The Time Walker
by Ginn the Fire Demon
Summary: Star and Marco are told that their actions will shape the infinite arch of the multiverses and that one wrong step will erase everything to ever be. Follow them as they wage war with destiny, duty, and the metaphysical concept of time. Eventual lemons, heavy pairing.
1. The Time Walker

It was there last adventure, and Star had suggested they go to a dimension where everyone was always partying and the concept of time had yet to be invented. Marco however had wanted to go somewhere that he could blow off steam by fighting various monsters and people. In the end a compromise had been reached and they had snipped their way to a dimension where monsters lurked in secret and the towns folks celebrated every time one was killed.

Currently, the town they had come to was in the middle of a three day and three night festival to celebrate a Sir Hadrow and his recent triumph over a very nasty subterranean beast that had been sinking houses and eating the inhabitants. Star and Marco slid along the outskirts of the cluster of people in the town center. Every so often they would catch glimpses of the blonde hero as he kissed yet another women and shook one more grateful person's hand.

The two resigned themselves to a small pub that lay just at the edge of town, it wasn't full, but full enough for their presence to be drawn into the celebration. Star swished whatever liquid the waitress had poured into a mug in her mouth, eyes squinting as she concentrated on the taste. Marco was simply staring in amazement at the pure size of the roasted animal that sat in front of him, poking it every so often to remind himself that it was indeed dead.

"This suuuuuucks Marco, why can't we go party with everyone else?" Star smacked her head on the table as she wailed, earning the suspicious glances of a few compatriots who were too close.

"Rule 38 of the Hero's Guide To Interdimensional Travel Star: Avoid any unnecessary contact or else-"

"Or else risk interdimensional complications, yeah Marco, I know I helped write the thing to remember?"

The 'thing' as Star put it was a pet project that Marco had started back in Sophomore year. It was a result of a rather terrible adventure where Star and Marco clashed over morals and principals that were represented by two opposing people. Star had sided with one and Marco the other. However, several days later they met on the battlefield, both clad in armour and both ready to settle a war with whatever means necessary. Upon realizing that they were fighting each other they immediately backed down and, after pretending to kill one another, quietly warped home.

After that Marco had decided that they needed some type of system to assure that they would never endanger themselves again. The result was a massive tome of rules that they must always follow whenever going to other dimensions. Star had initially been against the sheer volume of rules, claiming that they would infringe upon her fun and meddling antics. Marco had simply pointed out that it was those antics that had nearly made them kill each other and reluctantly she agreed to put a certain enchantment on the book.

The spell, which took several days to complete and the approval of several transdimensional beings, gave the book a life of its own. Should anyone in possession of the book begin to or break a rule the book would activate and release its mystical energy in order to stop them. This precaution of Marcos was in hopes that Star wouldn't be as destructive as usual if the threat of punishment loomed.

The guide was currently shaking and glowing within Marcos backpack, signaling that Stars determination to break one of its rules was noted. The girl simply rolled her eyes and slumped back on the table, drawing pictures into the wood with her wand. Marco smiled and began to eat his massive meal.

"You're still the safe kid you know that?" he rolled his eyes and ignored the obvious bait to start an argument with her.

"Maybe, but you still asked me to be your boyfriend if I recall." he smirked at her across the table as a slight flush came across her cheeks, tinting her heart's a bright red.

Smiling he leaned over and laid a chaste kiss on her lips, a sort of silent apology for embarrassing her. She returned it with one of her own and the two shared a warm look before returning to their respective meal and drink. He could feel Star's eyes on him as he ate, her watchful blue eyes that were trying to find a way to convince him to break a rule regardless of what the book would do.

But he had an ace in the hole.

"I love you Star," he spoke calmly, there was no stutter, no nervousness, he was stating a simple fact, words that he said to her a thousand times already.

And yet every time he spoke them to her she flushed a dark red and began to nervously chew on her wand. Tonight was no exception, the heat rose from her neck to her face and her hair appeared to be standing on end. Her heart's glowed a vibrant purple before settling down to a dull pink.

"Love you too," she grumbled defeatedly and with that her eyes drooped to look into her cup as she came to terms with her untimely defeat.

Their love had been something nearly everyone was expecting, even Marco himself. Around the end of freshman year a fact loomed over him, he had pinned after Jackie for so long with little to no results. And yet, despite his constant efforts he had still managed to fall in love with Star, and so he had to ask himself, who did he really love? Or did he love anyone at all? So, swallowing his nerves and fear, he turned to Jackie as she passed him by on her skateboard for the umpteenth time and called out to her.

"Hey Jackie, would you like to go on a date tonight?" his words were calm and his face was molded into a complicated smile. Jackie eyed him thoughtfully, watching the hope, longing, fear and remorse mix together to form a wonderfully strange expression.

But she didn't ask him what was wrong, instead she gave a confident nod and an easy going grin. They made plans for eight and met in the center of town where they walked and talked at all their favorite places. Jackie showed him a secret skatepark that had been built in the eighties and abandoned outside of town and Marco showed her a lush field of flowers where he and Star had spent an entire day just talking.

They ended up at a park down the street from his house, a group of teenagers smoked on the swing set as they talked about which girl was going to fall in love with them next. The pair sat on a picnic table that had remained remarkably untouched and watched the stars. Marco pointed out every observable constellation and Jackie decided to make some of her own, even affectionately naming one the safe kid.

"So Marco my man, what made you wanna ask me out tonight?" she swung her legs and watched him from the corner of seafoam eyes.

He didn't need to look at her to know she was watching, instead he kept his eyes on the star pattern she had named after him. In the background he heard the teens jeering at them, shouting obscenities while casually flirting with Jackie. He ignored them and thought about the question, wondering if there was a right answer to give her.

"I just wanted to confirm something is all," she looked at him warmly, there was knowing in her ocean eyes and Marco felt his heart skip a beat at being so close to her.

But then another pair of eyes flitted across his mind and his heart returned to normal.

"And did you?" she asked as though she already knew the answer, and after talking to her all night Marco was sure she did. She was far smarter and wiser than he or anyone had given her credit for and the knowledge only served as a reminder of how little he truly knew about her.

"Yeah, I did." she nodded and the two returned to staring up at the sky, Jackie asked him once more to name all the constellations and he happily did so, pointing them out until they began to fade with the rising sun.

He really did love stars.

When Marco returned to the house at around six in the morning Star was fast asleep on the couch, a 'Congratulations On Landing The Girl' banner above her head and an entire tray of cold conglomerated nachos on the table. Smiling he sat down next to her and took a bite, swallowing thickly as the congealed cheese went down. The loud cracking of a chip snapped her out of her light sleep.

"Marco! Oh you're home oh my gosh how was it? Are you two in love? Did you plant a fat one on her? Come on what happened!" the girl was bouncing from the chair to the couch almost shouting with excitement.

"Actually I told her that I didn't have feelings for her anymore, we hung out a bit and watched the sun rise and then I came home." even though he hadn't really said any of that he was sure that Jackie had understood what he had meant. He rose from his position and began to make his way upstairs as Star simply watched him dumbfounded.

"Wait, wait so does that mean you're in love with someone else or something?" she bolted after him, following him to his room and hanging off of him as she waited for an answer.

He turned to her, and wore that same complicated smile that he had shown Jackie and Star felt a before unknown twang in her heart.

"Who knows," he said simply and then retreated into his room, leaving her confused and himself embarrassed.

For a while he was content to leave things as they were, he and Star went on more adventures and she continued to pester him about who he was now in love with. It went on for a year, they learned more and they cried more than they ever had in their lives. They fought, they quarreled and at the end of it all Marco found that he had fallen even more in love with the strange outlandish girl than ever before.

Star on the other hand didn't realize what the strange movement in her heart was until much later. In the summer of her Sophomore year she felt the twang numerous times whenever Marco touched her, on purpose or accidental. And finally after a particularly grueling battle with a hoard of demons that had resulted in Marco holding onto her in the face of near death the feeling bloomed within her. A massive burst of magic was unleashed, evaporating any threat with the immediate area.

It wasn't until another few months later that Star finally decided to test her emotion.

"Hey Marco mind if I read you something?" Star called from the kitchen, Marco who was sitting on the couch binge watching action movies and stuffing his face with chips shot her a thumbs up in response .

Star darted to him, flipping over the couch and landing on her feet between his legs. Marco sighed and attempted to look around her body in hopes of catching the climax of the fight. Star however moved with him, determined to have all his attention directed at her, which she got with a begrudging sigh.

" Eh-hem, 'Reasons Why I Would Be A Perfect Girlfriend For Marco Diaz,' by Star Butterfly. Reason 1: We know each other more than anybody has ever known another person." the girl began, reciting at her top volume.

"Star-"

"Reason 2: We both love fighting monsters, watching movies and going on adventures."

"Star wait-"

"Reason 3: We're already inseparable, why not just bump up the fun of besties to the fun of boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Star please I'm begging you-"

"Reason 4: I am a very accepting person and will be loyal no matter what, even when you fart while you sleep, which you do, a lot."

"Star."

Finally, his calm collected voice snapped her out of her mechanical reading. She looked down at him curiously as he took a long sip from his drink. Her nerves were starting to get the better of her and she danced between his legs while she chewed on her wand. Marco however looked at ease, his eyes reading the label of the drink as he appeared to be in deep thought.

"Alright, you've convinced me." Star squealed and threw herself into him, knocking them and the couch backwards.

For a moment they stared at eachother, Marco threw a bowl of upturned chips and Star through her now frizzy hair. And then they were laughing and hugging, nuzzling at the others faces and planting warm kisses wherever they could. It was as if almost a year's worth of romantic fantasies were escaping within one confession.

"Really? You mean it? Like, really really?" she kissed up and down his cheek pressing her face into any nook she could get to as the boy laughed.

"Of course I've been in love with you for a long time after all." they shared their first kiss and then cleaned up the living room, everything sort of fell into place after that.

And nothing really changed.

The tavern was starting to grow quieter as people lifted their heavy heads from the bar and began the long march home. Star and Marco left a bit of money and began to head towards the exit when it was suddenly blocked by a very disheveled town member. His face was red and veins pulsed all along his body as sweat dripped to the ground.

"It's a beast, a beast has come and it's eaten Sir Hadrow!" Star and Marco shared one look before rushing past the man, sprinting towards the town center where whatever monster had appeared had already started quite a few fires.

The pair arrived at the town square, Marco sank into a defensive stance while Star prepared her wand, the half star glowing ominously. A great shadow appeared as the beast came into view and Marcos jaw was quick to drop from the sight. In front of them stood a great wolf, its fur matted with blood and trees, scars traveled all across his body, revealing his naked skin beneath. It eyed them from across the square, intelligent golden orbs appraising them and their threat.

"I don't like the way that thing is looking at us Star, feels like he could open up his mouth and start talking." Marco looked over at the girl who was wearing an excited smile as she watched the gigantic creature through the fire.

"Relax Marco, it's just an oversized puppy, we can handle something like that no problem." Marco matched her confident grin and returned his watchful gaze to the wolf, fully prepared for it to charge at them.

But when he turned to look, it was already gone.

"What the-" however Marco's questioning was cut off by a sudden whoosh of air behind him. He turned too late as the gigantic maw of the wolf descended towards him, ready to swallow him in one bite.

"Bubble Gum Super Bubble!" Star cheered as pink sphere surrounded them, the wolf's teeth sank into the gum exterior, growls of frustration leaving it as it attempted to dig them out. Marco panted from the near death experience, clutching at his heart through his hoodie and eyeing the great beast fearfully.

"Jeez that thing can move fast, if it wasn't for you I would have been a late night snack!" Star giggled as she watched the monster chew on them like a toy.

"Aww you're such a cute puppy, but-" with a wave of her wand she dispersed the bubble, shooting gum all across the wolf's pelt and eyes, blinding it. "We don't really have time to play with pets right now."

As the beast howled and smashed itself against houses and the ground Marco hopped to his feet and took a more offensive position. Star had once more pointed her wand at the enemy, this time fully intending to send it flying with a blast to its face. As if sensing this the wand began to shudder and glow.

"Rainbow Rocket!" the half star trembled violently as Star's mighty magical power coursed through it, preparing to send the creature to the next dimension.

However the blast never came.

"And freeze," all at once her attack was frozen, the beast was frozen, her wand was frozen, even the night sky was frozen.

From across the town center the two made out a human like shape petting the mighty foot of the beast before making its way towards them. Marco stepped in front of Star, face hard and determined while Star positioned her wand on Marco's head in preparation. However as the figure came into full view the two lowered their respective weapons in pure surprise.

He was human, or at least appeared to be. His skin was a pale white and his short brown hair was neatly combed to the side, complementing the formal look he gained from wearing a pitch black suite. His face was gaunt and thin and his smile seemed permanent, however it was his eyes that gave away his otherworldly qualities. They glowed an unearthly light blue, illuminating the area around him, and where pupils should have been there were only hourglass shapes.

"Well, that was fun to watch, good thing too, if it were boring then I would have wasted the three million years of time that led up to this exact moment so thank God for that right?" the figure loomed over the two of them, quickly invading their personal space.

"Hmm, your time has quite a nice shape, but I guess it should considering," he trailed off as he stared into Marco's eyes, the strange shape hypnotizing the boy and knocking him onto his back in a woozy state. "Whoops sorry kiddo, don't look too deep into the eyes of time, you'll get lost there."

Star was quick to stand in front of Marco, her body puffed out as if to intimidate the much taller man. She stared defiantly into his eyes, undaunted by whatever power they may have held. The man simply smiled and leaned back, allowing the two some breathing room, Star quickly turned to help Marco up, however the sudden movement caused him to once more fall to the ground, face green as he held back the roasted beast from earlier.

"You too girl, your times all over the place, it's crazy to look at, you know it's stuff like this that reminds me why this is so much fun!" Star glared at the man, he had fallen back into the air and begun to float, using his arms to move around as if he were swimming.

"W-Who are you?" the man looked over in surprise, as if he hadn't been expecting to have to answer any type of questions. Marco had managed to get to his feet with Stars help, and while he was covered in a sheen of sweat he still did his best to look intimidating.

"Who me? Oh you know just your run of the mill all knowing omnipotent being, nobody interesting, you're the cool ones, who are you guys? Wait don't answer that, already know." Star shivered at the feeling the man was giving her, it was the same sensation she had so often felt with Tom but had once mistaken for affection.

Fear.

"No I meant your name, like who are you man? Are you the guy who stopped time?" he appeared before them again, this time covering his eyes so that Marco couldn't see them.

"My name, oh man its been so long, but at the same time I guess it really hasn't. Um, Collin? No it wasn't that stupid, Colton? No, um, oh, oh right it's Cole, Cole Hausen, yes my name is Cole Hausen, I am the Time Walker, a being who exists at every moment and at the same time only this one. I see all, know all and will one day tell all. I am the Observer, bound to bear witness to every moment of every universe in every dimension in every timeline in the infinitely arching multiverse until time finally reaches its conclusion." Star and Marco stared at him incredulously, as if not believing a word of it.

"O-kay crazy, but what are you doing here? And what are you doing just freezing time? Don't you know how dangerous that is?" Star had begun to back away, however Cole followed unfettered.

"I'm here because, um, oh shoot what was it? Sorry existing at all points in time kind of makes you a scatterbrain, hard to focus you know? Oh right, I'm here to warn you guys, usually outside interference isn't allowed but hey, this is one of the only moment in the arch that I actually can so I figure, might as well right?" Cole was scratching violently at his head as he talked, as if trying to dig out his brain so he could better remember.

"Warn us about what? That a weirdo with clock eyes is gonna try to abduct us after freezing time? Sorry but we already got the memo on that one." Cole blinked at her before letting out a strange yelp like laugh.

"No no, not anything that cool! I just wanted to tell you guys that, you know, big things are in the works and it's kinda in your best interest to get ready ya know? Just some advice though."

"Okay fine, thank you very much, you can go now, and please unfreeze time, I really hate when this kind of thing happens." she turned away from him and began hauling Marco and herself back towards the outskirts of town so that they could warp away.

"No can do," Cole appeared in front of them in a flash of blue light, startling the girl and causing her to fall to the ground with Marco in tow. "See I'm the Observer, which means I have to observe every event that ever happens, and the events that happen with you guys shape the future of this and every other dimension in this universe. Sorry, I don't wanna do it either but it's kinda my thing."

"Wait," came Marcos weak voice, earning the other two's attention. Star helped him sit up so that he could better speak. "You said infinite multiverse and other timelines. If you don't wanna do the whole observing thing on us why not just go to one where we don't exist? There's gotta be at least a few right?"

"Pfft, I wish!" Cole said rolling his eyes as he once more began to hover on his back. "Believe me I checked, but nada, zilch, none. See there's two things that every single multiverse, time stream and dimension have in common. One, both Marco Diaz and Star Butterfly exist, and two, both of you always end up together and shaping that universe's future in the same way. Just like me the two of you exist just as you are now at the same time, doing the same thing, in all infinite timelines and universes. It's like, totally crazy right? But hey, you two are the only ones, so consider yourselves special okay?"

For a moment, the pair sat there, trying to absorb the information and process it. But then they looked at each other and smiled, and their smiles grew and fed off each other until it turned to full blown cries of joy. They jumped to their feet, dancing with each other and exchanging loving kisses as they did so. Cole watched from his hovering position, smile still in place and yet still managing to look confused.

"What's wrong with you kids, I'm trying to give you some sort of cryptic warning and here you are acting like you just got the best news of your life." Star and Marco ceased their dancing and tackled Cole with a hug, causing him to fall to the ground in surprise.

"Well yeah, we're happy after all! I mean, this means that me and Star always end up together, no matter what! It's like we're some sort of cosmic fairy tale or something right?" Marco laughed as he rolled off of the man, staring at the frozen night sky as he and Star linked arms over the stranger's body.

"Be happy some other time, right now you got stuff to do, going home for one, and getting off me too." Marco and Star agreed and stood up, still grinning ear to ear and nudging each other every few seconds, Cole's smile was still in place, but the furrow in his brows showed his annoyance.

"So, can you tell us what exactly is gonna happen? So we can, you know, prepare?" Marco asked as Star continued to jab him lightly in the side.

"Sorry, I can only interfere a little bit, can't give you specifics, but I can give you cute little warnings like the earlier one cuz that stuff doesn't mess up the timeline. Actually this is totally gonna blow your mind but because the two of you exist as you are everywhere else the three of us are having this exact same conversation."

"Woah for real? So I'm saying and acting this way in every other conceivable timeline and universe?" Star stared in wonder at Marco as he spoke before proceeding to analyze her body, as if imagining whatever other versions of it may exist.

"That's right, actually us three are the only beings in the infinite formula of universes that can do that, you're linked to all other versions of yourself and do everything the exact same, and because of that regardless of what universe it is you'll always change it in the exact same way. And because I exist always I can say exactly what needs to be said at exactly the right moment to all of you." Star and Marco cooed over that, their previous unease having been all but erased by the man's whimsical nature and his cosmic love message.

"So you can't tell us what's gonna happen, only that something does happen, and that all versions of us will proceed exactly the same way, so then that means it's like, super important we get it right or we could totally mess up the entire multiverse right?" Cole nodded enthusiastically, Star hugged onto Marcos arm, squealing about how smart he was.

"But hey if you're just the Observer why bother interfering at all? Why not just watch how things go?" Cole sighed and hopped into the air, landing in a cross legged position as he dipped into deep thought.

"Okay here's how it is, right now, the universe is kinda at an impasse kiddo. I exist at all points of time, which means that I know how everything turns out, but I only know how things turn out because I interfere at certain moments, moments where I also exist. So basically, if I don't interfere at the right moments you two can't shape the multiverse and if you don't shape the multiverse than the flow of time is interrupted and stops. Everything hinges on the fact that I interfere at times, but because I already know what's going to happen I already know this. This is a rare time when the future only has two possible outcome, either you do or you don't. But if you don't then I cease to exist and so does everything ever, which is why I have to be here so that that doesn't happen, make sense?"

"Not at all," the two said in unison, sharing a giggle and calling jinx at each other, Cole's smile was becoming strained.

"Doesn't matter, here's my point, I've got three chances in the time flow to interfere, here's one and the other two are at some point later, points that I already know. So right now I can give you one piece of advice."

"Which is?"

"Pack up and head to Mewni." Star and Marco stared at each other and Cole in shock, however he seemed serious.

"Mewni, home? But why?" Star asked fretfully, not at all thrilled with the idea of returning to her duty as a future queen.

"Sorry, I already blew my one interference, once you guys go there my second chance will come along at some moment until then you just gotta go with the flow. And of course keep in mind that everything you're doing, your counterparts in every other universe are doing at the exact same moment, but as long as you go with the natural flow of things, it should work out right until the moment where I can interfere again."

"Wait a sec," Star began, scratching at her cheek with her wand. "If you exist at all times then doesn't that mean you exist at your second and third chance for interference? So you must already be giving us the advice we need, then isn't the shape of the future already decided?"

"Sorry but no, those three moments are isolated pockets of time, they themselves have infinite branching lines of what I can say and even I don't know what needs to be done until that moment. Despite what I said earlier I only know the outcome and the moments, not what I need to say. Believe me, this is way harder for me than you, after all this is the only thing ever that I won't already know."

Star and Marco exchanged a frown but nodded, deciding to put their momentary trust into his complicated words. He had no reason to lie after all, and from what he had said and shown them it was nearly impossible for them not to believe him. Sucking in deep breaths they turned to face him, determination in their young eyes.

"Alright, we'll trust you and head to Mewni then." Cole clapped his hands delightedly and with a quick swipe opened a portal similar to one the dimensional scissors would make,

"This'll take you right home, pack and head out tomorrow at five," Marco and Star nodded and headed into the portal.

"See you soon?" Star questioned as Marco exited through the portal, Cole grinned as if it were a joke.

"I exist always, technically you already have," she grinned and walked through, disappearing along with the portal and leaving Cole in the frozen space of the dimension.

With a snap of his finger time began to flow once again, the wolf crashed into a large fortress structure and collapsed unconscious, earning a cheer of the drunk villagers who once more began to party. Cole smiled and headed towards the woods of the surrounding area.

"Oh man, I'm so excited to see how things turn out!" and with a flash of blue he was gone, leaving only a singed hourglass shape in the grass behind him.


	2. The Candidate

**Hey everyone, I didn't get to do this in the first chapter because basically I forgot but here I am, back from the dead to bring you a fic about one of the best shows ever made. I really struggled on whether to make this romance or not since I simply love the fact that Star and Marco are portrayed as a pair whose friendship simply transcends any need for a romantic relationship, they're already above something like that. Having said that I'm also a huge shipper of the two so I did it anyway. I'm hoping to make this an epic but that will depend on your reviews and favorites, so please do as it's the only reason to keep writing. Also if at any point the concepts Cole presents get too confusing or you find a flaw with one feel free to message me and either ask or explain your point and I'll be more than happy to make corrections, thank you.**

 **-Ginn**

They had decided to start packing the moment they returned to their home. Marco and Star bolted to their rooms and began filling their bags with anything they thought they would need. Star filled hers with whimsical spells and creatures, completely ignoring her clothes and instead picking between which strange creation of hers that dwelled within her room would be brought to Mewni. Marco meanwhile was packing a very organized suitcase with clothes for all times of the year as well as hygienic essentials and several pictures of his family.

His family, he had forgotten to tell his family.

Slapping his face Marco snatched his bag and closed the door behind him, exiting at the same time that Star did. The two exchanged wide grins and headed downstairs where the Diaz parents were cuddling on the couch, whispering in a language that only Marco could understand. He flushed as Star stared at them, trying to figure out what it was they were talking about from the little Spanish she had learned.

"Uh, Mom, Dad? We gotta talk to you about something." the pair hopped down the stairs and stood tall and nervous before the older couple.

"Oh kids, mother and I were just deciding on what mountain we would hike this summer, so far it's looking like we'll be hitting up the Rockies!" Mr. Diaz shouted excitedly, his rolled 'R' dragging out the word. Mrs. Diaz giggled and looked at the kids, giving them her full attention.

"Okay kids, now what is it?" the two shifted uncomfortably at the thought of telling the Diaz's that they would be leaving for an unknown amount of time, even more so when what they would be doing would shape the entire multiverse.

"Oh no, it is 'the look' darling! Star, are you with a, a baby!" Mr. Diaz sank to his knees cursing God for his son's foolishness and greed, Star flushed a deep red and buried her face in her palms while Marco just slapped his face.

"Dad please get up, it has nothing to do with that." Marco pleaded with the man as he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Finally, Mrs. Diaz seemed to get him under control and the two resumed their position on the couch, large smiles once more in place.

"Mom, Dad, me and Star have to go to Mewni for a while, and by awhile I mean I don't know when we'll be back." his parents paled at the news, looking at each other fretfully, Star chewed on her lower lip as he delivered the news.

"But why son?" Mr. Diaz's voice was little more than a fearful whisper, his large eyes drooping from the news.

"You see it all started when this dude Cole claimed-" however Marco cut off the would have been six hour long explanation with a firm shake of his head, Star blinked in surprise but clamped her mouth shut.

"We can't tell you guys, I'm sorry." Now the Diaz's looked angry, his mother stood up and walked towards them, as if preparing to scold them.

"What do you mean you can't tell us? Marco Diaz we are your parents and you will tell us what we want to know? Is this some kind of dangerous monster fighting mission?" he had never seen his mother this worked up before, even when he had been kidnapped Star had told him she had kept a remarkably cool head.

"We can't tell you that either Mom, all we can tell you guys is that it's something only we can do" Marco turned up his face to stare at his mom, pleading with her to understand.

He was met with a firm slap across his face.

The room went silent, a stutter of disbelief left Mr. Diaz and Marcos mother was gnawing her lip as sobs escaped her. And then with a cry she fled the living room, Mr. Diaz chasing after her and calling her name. Star was with him in an instant, tenderly patting his face and whispering words of comfort and worry, but all Marco could hear was white noise.

He had never been hit by his parents before, he couldn't even remember the last time they yelled at him. Slowly he came back to reality, the white noise and the stinging on his cheek quickly fading as Star's voice came into focus. He met her worried gaze and gave the tiniest smile to let her know he was fine.

"Marco, why didn't you just tell them what we were doing? I'm sure they would have understood!" Star lightly caressed his face and despite everything he leaned in and felt his body relax.

"I can't risk that, who knows what will happen if we tell anyone that whatever we do in the future will shape the multiverse and the infinitely arching timelines. I don't really know what the risk is, or if there's any at all, but we shouldn't take the chance and just keep it to ourselves." Star pursed her lips but nodded, squeezing his cheek affectionately before letting him go.

"Let's go," he took the dimensional scissors from her small purse and cut open a rift in space.

Star nodded and with no small amount of effort hurled her massive bag into the vortex. She gave him a cheery smile and a thumbs up as well before diving headfirst into the abyss, disappearing from sight. Marco gave one final look around, as if trying to memorize every small detail about the living room where he had spent so much of his life.

The last thing he heard before he dove through the portal was his mother's muffled cries.

With a slight twist he was in Mewni, standing just outside the castle. Star was several feet away from him, talking excitedly to a very large and intimidating guard. They were laughing as he roughly tousled her hair, she bounced on her heels as she shot butterflies and tigers out of her wand in her apparent joy.

Turning back she noticed Marco and said one more thing to the man before sprinting over to him. Marco smiled warmly as she took his hand and led him towards a secret entrance in the castle where they could get to her room without having to go through her parents. As they made their way through the bushes Marco shivered, his body feeling cold for a moment. He turned and noticed that even from his distance he could feel the heavy glare of the man Star had been talking too just moments ago.

"Hey Star, who was-" but his question was quickly cut off by a hand over his lips, they had entered a small dark hallway and there was quite a bit of noise coming from the light at the end.

"Marco shh! This hallway leads to the kitchen and if we're gonna get to my room unnoticed we need to be as stealthy as the ninja you so enjoy kissing." Marco flushed at the memory and Star flashed him a wide grin, exchanging a quick kiss in apology. "Now, let's go!"

With one rough tug Star pulled him into the light and into the massive kitchen. The room was huge, easily the side of the entire cafeteria. Chefs and servers bustled around, yelling at the top of their lungs as they prepared and traded off food. Marco had to constantly jump from space to space to avoid being crushed by the traffic of the place. Star snatched his hand, weaving the two of them through the crowd and popping out on the other side.

"Wow Star, I never would have thought a kitchen would be that busy," Star however wasn't listening, instead she was surveying the area, making sure there was no one who would rat them out to her parents.

"Alright Marco, here we go, we're gonna sprint down that hallway, then take a left, a right, a straight up, a slight diagonal and then boom we're there you got that?" Marco shrugged helplessly which Star took as an affirmative.

Star's room was located in one of the several towers of the castle and, after some wall to wall jumping and hiding they finally made it. Marco was surprised by the inside, he had expected it to be just as whimsical as her room on earth. However, this place had a true essence of regality about it, everything was so flower and expensive looking, from the drapes to the bed and even the throw pillows. Marco was almost afraid to touch something, worried that he may break a rare collectible.

Star meanwhile was unpacking, tossing her creatures all around and shooting spell after spell at the walls in an attempt to make them brighter, all of which failed. She grumbled to herself, muttering something about anti-magic wallpaper. Marco took a seat at her desk and gazed out the window. The castle was far above the town, piercing the clouds with its sheer size and from the height he could see far into the distance. It looked a lot like Earth, and for a moment he pretended that he could see his house and family, waiting for him to return.

"You okay?" Star's hand landed on his shoulder from behind, with a light push she shoved her head over his own to look upside down in his face, her worried eyes searching his for anger or remorse.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, cheek still stings a bit but I'm sure it's nothing a kiss can't fix." she giggled and obliged, warmly smooching his facial wound before she hopped off and began reformatting her bed, tossing aside pillows and sheets in the process.

"Nice digs," the pair froze, eyes darting to the corner of the room where a shadowed figure stood, however as they squinted to see they noticed that the space where eyes should be was glowing a light blue in the darkness.

Cole walked away from his position, stepping into the natural lighting of the room. He was dressed as he had been last night, his skin still as pale as it had been in the moonlight. Marco twitched, resisting the urge to put himself between the man and Star, the girl however seemed more annoyed than defensive, rolling her eyes and continuing to unpack.

"You know, I had an ex who loved to do the whole dramatic reveal from a dark corner thing, it gets old real quick Cole." he once again let out his strange laugh and took a seat in the air next to Marco.

"You guys are a day early you know, I said leave tomorrow at five, what happened to that?" Marco and Star exchanged looks and gave a shrug, pretending to be busy with other things, however Cole's watchful eyes would not let up.

"Well it doesn't matter, now that you guys are here the events that must occur can finally kick into gear, I suggest-" his words were quickly cut off by a loud and angry knock on the door, the trio turned alarmed to see the bulging wood as someone tried to gain entrance.

"Star dear are you in there? We heard from some of the chefs that you and a young boy were seen in the castle !" King Butterfly's knocks grew louder as he spoke, Star paled and began to chew on her wand.

"Oops, looks like I'm gone." and in a flash he was, Cole's presence completely disappeared from the room, leaving only the nervous pair to deal with her father's wrath.

Finally the door was kicked down and her short father and his attendants entered the room. His stern gaze already focused on his daughter who was doing her best to shove her pets back into her bag. Marco shrang away from him, his strong regal aura acting almost like a shield against him.

"Ah Star my dear, so you were in your room." he paused and turned to address the other occupant. "Marco."

The two exchanged a gentlemanly nod before the king returned to his daughter.

"Star, you're certainly early on your arrival home, we thought you were at least staying on Earth for the summer, and you even brought your friend with you, what is the meaning of all this?" Star stuttered and tripped over her words as she tried to come up with a decent explanation.

After all, she couldn't tell him the real reason they had returned, nor could she inform her that her 'friend' was no longer just a 'friend'.

"W-Well sir," Marco chimed in and jumped between the king and Star, much to both their surprise. "Star was just telling me that she felt it was time to grow up and start learning the duties of being a Queen of the land, after all, no one's young forever!"

He let out an awkward giggle, which Star quickly matched and agreed with. The king stroked his beard, wise eyes appraising him and his statement. Marco forced himself to maintain eye contact, hoping that the lie wouldn't be seen through.

"And what are you doing here dear boy?" he asked suspiciously, circling around him as if inspecting a piece of art.

"W-Well it's just-" Star shot him a desperate look, steeling himself he took a deep breath and met the king's gaze dead on. "I was interested in becoming a candidate to marry your daughter."

The entire room seemed to get ten degrees colder at Marco's bold declaration. Despite it being a last ditch effort to distract the king from his inquisitions, Star seemed to become instantly enamored with the idea. She cooed and squealed over him, cuddling against him and laying sweet kisses all over him, much to the surprise and distaste of her father.

"My daughter's hand you say? Quite the audacious young man aren't you? Well I'll add your name to the list then" he snapped his fingers and one of his attendants made a note in a journal. "Well then, I'll inform your mother about you and your new husband candidates arrival, join us for dinner later dear!"

And with that he was gone.

"Maaaaarcoooo, marriage I can't believe it! Oh gosh with my favor we can put you on the top of the list oh this is gonna be so fun!" Marco swallowed awkwardly, not having the heart to tell her it had been a spur of the moment distraction.

Besides, it wasn't the worst idea in the world, being married.

"Okay well I'm gonna go find some food, you wanna come?" Marco shook his head, mentioning something about unpacking, she nodded and blew him a kiss before skipping down the hall..

As soon as she was gone Marco's face hardened.

"You're still here huh?" at his words Cole floated down from the ceiling, smile more teasing than it had been.

"Marriage huh? Wow kiddo getting brave aren't ya?" Marco swatted at him but his hand simply phased through the man.

"Why are you even still here? Isn't you even talking to me gonna effect the the future? Or does this count as your moment of interference?" Cole kept his back to Marco as he inquired, focus directed towards various pictures that Star had.

"Technically I'm allowed to talk to you guys as much as I want as long as I don't give away any information or lead you any particular way." Cole snatched a picture of Star and Marco that she had unpacked earlier and in a flash of blue it was gone. "And since you two are the only ones I can talk to in a normal fashion I figured why not right?"

"Is that it?"

"That's it baby."

"Fine then, I'm gonna go get Star, don't take any more weird things dude." Marco made a 'I'm watching you' gesture before exiting the room.

Cole walked to the window overlooking the kingdom and smiled, a wave of nostalgia coursing through him. With a snap of his fingers a pair of dimensional scissors identical to Star's appeared which he exchanged in her purse. From down the hall he heard the approaching sound of Marco and Star and with yet another snap began to dematerialize.

"Let's get this ball a rolling."


	3. The Secret History Of Non-Time

**A nice juicy chapter for you this time, revealing a lot more about the plot and setting it up to be a true epic, again if you have any questions feel free to ask. Also there is a slight lemon, no actual intercourse or petting but it gets kinda heavy, skip it if you want but know that it will happen at some point, review, favorite, follow, thank you.**

 **-Ginn**

Dinner was about as awkward as either of them had expected. They had been guided to the grand hall by the large guardsmen who Marco had seen Star talking to when they first arrived. Once again he could feel the large mans eyes at him, leering, inspecting, judging. The boy silently wished with all his heart that the man would either speak to his mind or leave them in peace.

Their meal was held in the grand hall of the luxurious castle, which was even larger than the oversized kitchen. The table stretched in every which way, clearly made to accommodate as many people as possible rather than simply go from side of the room to the other. On it was an endlessly vast amount of interdimensional cuisine, ranging from a deep fried creature of which there were only six left to the ever famous sports arena nachos.

The king and queen had pulled out all the stops.

Surprisingly, rather than sit on opposites end of the table, Star's parents positioned themselves on either side of the pair. The king on Marcos and the queen on Stars, the two shared an uneasy look but exchanged smiles with their respective neighbors, neither of which were returned.

Star dug in immediately, trying as usual to fill the void of sound with her loud ravenous eating habits. Marco gingerly spooned soup into his mouth, maintaining eye contact with the perplexing look of the king the entire time. He darted his gaze over to Star, hoping she would save him, however she was fighting her own manner battle with her mother.

"So, Marco my boy, not only are you my daughter's 'bestie' as she would put it, but you've also mustered the gall to openly declare yourself as one of her _many, many, many_ marriage candidates is that right?" Marco winced at every 'many' that the king decided to include but nodded none the less, putting down his spoon and turning to the shorter man in an attempt to at least appear respectful.

"That's right King-"

"River, just River is quite enough my boy"

"Oh, alright River then, yes I um, that is with all the humbleness that I can give unto you I would, too, like to enter my hat into the contenders ring." he slapped his face the moment he finished, lamenting over his poor combination of strange modern slang and poorly worded old English.

River however seemed unperturbed and instead stroked his beard as he considered the boy's words. The queen's eyes remained closed, face placid and neutral, Star ceased eating and gave him a smile sloppily filled with food which Marco weakly returned. Finally the king seemed to be finished with his musings and snatched a nacho from in front of him, chewing on it slowly.

"Wonderful thing, Earth junk food, even though it isn't the wonderfully rich and well raised meat that is destined for greatness from the moment it's born we still love it just as much. It may just be an ordinary dish, something you can find anywhere you go, but it's always a little different every time I try it. Sometimes Marco my boy, I'd prefer to enjoy a simple and easy to understand bit of Earth junk food than some well off manicured pig, do you understand?" Marco stared mesmerized at the king as he pondered the words and the analogy, but after a moment he nodded, his grin a bit more confident than before.

"Wait so does that mean I'm-"

"Let's leave it at that Marco dear, my husband doesn't often successfully complete an analogy, let's take the moment to savor it and move on." Even the queen seemed to be smiling now, elegant mouth nibbling on the tiniest piece of meat.

In fact it was only Star who seemed to be lost.

"Psst Marco," the girl whispered, grabbing him roughly by the hood and pulling him to her lips so she could speak. "What the heck are they talking about, and since when does my dad even eat junk food?"

Marco smiled warmly at the girl and simply pat her on the leg, resisting the urge to kiss her. With her parents watchful eyes on them not only would it be disrespectful, but he wasn't even sure it would be legal. Star had always been vague on what kind of dating she was allowed to do, as well as how far her relationships were even allowed to go. From what he assumed, there wasn't even dating on Mewni, just courting and marriage, anything else was most likely going to earn him a one way ticket to prison for defiling the future queen of the dimension.

"Well then, you'll have to excuse your mother and I, urgent business and what not, Star, show your friend to his room, on the _opposite_ side of the tower." River spoke, emphasizing the word 'opposite', Star nodded, giggling and grabbed Marco by the hand, pulling them from the main hall and towards the stairs.

As they dashed back up the tall tower to grab his bag Marcos mind wandered to his brief conversation. From the way the king spoke, it almost seemed like he would have preferred that Marco marry Star. Or maybe he simply thought of him as a token of some sorts, an amusement that he could talk to other kingdoms about. He had, after all, described Marco as 'junk food', did that mean he was thought of as trash of some sorts.

"Okay so dad said opposite side of the tower but ob-vious-ly we're not gonna do that because, well, _then_ how am I supposed to get my snuggles, so what I'm thinking-" Marco was only half paying attention however, his primary focus on the image of the wonderfully glowing girl that bounced around her room, lighting it up with spells and whimsical hues each time a word left her mouth.

"Marco, are you listen-" her words however were cut off as Marco suddenly moved in on her, lips moving to hers and stealing her breath.

She giggled into him and complied, molding her lips to his more aggressive ones. He had just a few inches over her and lorded it over her, using his height to make her tip her head up to meet him. She sighed against his mouth, breathing out words of adoration and love that only she could say so freely. He felt his face heat up but was unwilling to back down into his embarrassment as he had so many times before.

Instead he pushed more against her, pressing his body flush against her own. She squeaked and let out a breathless whisper of his name before twisting her body into his, her leg slipping between his leg. He was always surprised by how much she seemed to know about these forms of intimacy, how she always knew exactly what small move it took to change his blissful love into molten lust.

And sometimes, when no one was watching, he wondered to himself who else had experienced her.

The thought was quickly shoved aside however as her nimble fingers maneuvered beneath his sweatshirt and onto his sculpted chest. Her fingers, hardened from battle and hard work, traced scars that he had received while fighting for and with her. She traced down his still forming chest and abs, and down lower still to the dip in his waistline. He sucked in a nervous breath and her hands retreated, resting tamely on his hips.

Their kisses had become deeper, tongues intertwined with each other within one of their mouths. Somehow the girl seemed to not only achieve this, but also lightly gnaw on his lower lip, causing it to swell. Finally however, Marco lost his breath and Star immediately switched to his neck, panting against his pulse and lapping up the small beads of sweat that had formed. He shivered at the feeling, hands going into her hair and to her shoulders, pulling her closer while nervously pulling them apart.

"Marco," she breathed into his ear, licking at its shell. "My Marco, _mi bronceado gran dios_."

A violent blush erupted from his collar, traveling like a virus up his neck and to his ears and face, even his eyes felt red. The girls laugh was much breathier now, lower, huskier, she nibbled on the skin behind his ear and he whimpered as she twisted the sensitive flesh in her teeth. The aggressive girl was pushing herself further into him than usual, at this point one of them always backed off, frightened of their own arousal and worried about where it would lead.

And yet here, in her parents castle, in an alternate dimension with guards down the hall just waiting for an excuse to take him away, they were proceeding farther and deeper into their sexualities than they had ever gone with each other, with anyone. Stars hands moved again, tracing past his tightened dip into his pants and down onto his inner thighs.

If even a finger of hers twitched she would be in uncharted territory.

"S-Star, um c-can we, maybe, should we?" the girl was no longer laughing, and when she pulled back to look at him her eyes were burning embers, there was no look of delightful insanity, no glee, no unearthly joy, just smoldering blue with his name written in lust.

With a leap and careful turn they were on her bed, Star straddling his waist and Marcos vision beginning to blur as the unfamiliar sensations reached a peak. The princess looked down at him, searching his expression for any doubt, any fear, any mistrust. But despite the nerves and the embarrassment, all that she found was herself reflected in his eyes and her love reflected in his smile.

She bucked her hips against him, and it took a moment for Marco to even register what she had done.

When he did however, a previously unheard of gasp left his body, racking him with spasms and forcing his hands to her hips. She smiled in surprise at his sudden boldness and complied with yet another quick grind against him. Marcos mind had switched to autopilot almost as soon their lower bodies has touched. His hesitance, his innocence, his worry of getting caught evaporated into the pleasant haze that the girl was creating within him.

One that threatened to leak out of she continued.

"What do you feel Marco," it was the first time either of them had spoken since Marcos bold decision to kiss her.

It wasn't so much of a question as rhetorical statement. Looking at her, he could tell that she knew exactly what he felt, her head lolled to the side as her movements became painfully slow. He wasn't even really sure what parts of them were touching through her dress and his pants but it didn't matter, nothing did anymore. Her breaths came out in spasms and though she was clearly trying to keep her cool Marco could tell it was becoming hard for her to remain quiet.

"Star," his words were a whisper of awe towards the girl who, at hearing him, had once more begun to speed up her movements, until she was almost bouncing on him. He rose a hand to caress her face, savoring the feeling of soft flesh and heat that radiated from her, she turned and kissed his fingers, eyes never leaving his own.

"I want you Marco," she lowered herself so their chests were touching, her words nearly making his heart stop. "I need you Marco, I crave you Marco, every moment this churning in my heart gets worse and you're the only one who can make it stop."

She had never been one to mince words after all.

He had never thought of Star as a particularly erotic person, he didn't even think to wonder what she did with past boyfriends when the two of them began dating. However, after several late night make out sessions that had nearly led to something else it became clear that at the very least she was not inexperienced. As if sensing his jealousy Star had explained, Marco may not have been her first kiss, but everything else was just as new to her as it was to him. However, unlike him, she refused to let any emotion other than love and instinct guide her, hence her ability to know him like no other.

And currently it felt as though her body knew him too well.

"Please," he hated to hear her sound so desperate, so lost within herself, yet his heart was filled to the brim with her love and his body was at its limit in terms of patience.

Her progression towards his zipper was anything but slow and in an instant she had taken a hold of the metal. The sheer intensity of the moment twisted his stomach to the point where he felt like stopping just to make the feeling cease, instead he raised his head, the two of them watching each other in a trance as the sound of metal sliding downwards crashed in their ears.

A click went off in Marcos head, an instinct of fight or flight, and without warning he snatched Star and pulled the two of them to the head of the bed. From outside the two watched as a pillar of blue light burst around the castle, shaking the walls and causing a slight amount of debris to fall around the two. Exchanging looks of understanding the two bolted down the stairs, heading to the throne room where Stars parents would, hopefully, be calmly sitting, waiting to explain to the two what had happened.

However as they came towards the room, they slowed, not only were the large wooden doors partially closed, but there were already voices coming from within. Marco made a stealth gesture from an old spy movie that he and Star had watched and the two pressed their backs to the space next to the doors opening. They moved as close as possible without obscuring the light and casting a shadow and leaned forward, hoping to catch whatever conversation was being had.

"Quite an entrance don't you think?" the queens crystal voice bounced against the walls, Star nervously shook Marcos arm but he shook his head, gesturing that they should continue listening rather than interfere.

"She's quite right my boy, what is the reason for your return?" Marco leaned a bit more, Star clinging to his back with him to catch sight of the third person.

"What, can't an all powerful omnipotent being come in and say hey to his favorite dynasty every once in awhile? Oh and queeny, honey? Ya gotta stop with the pork tenders, three months, fourteen days, six hours, that's all the time you've got left with that waistline babe."

Cole stood in the center of the room, face split into a smile, shadow stretching ominously across the wall. Marco and Star covered their mouths to hide their gasps, pulling away from the door they exchanged looks of shock and silently mouthed their disbelief to the other before quickly returning to their secret show. The new arrival had begun to walk the length of the room, murmuring silently to himself as if counting the steps.

"And what of our agreement Time Walker? The one that specifically states you cease in your observations of the eighth dimension that houses Mewni and all of her provinces?" Cole stopped pacing at that, his smile was still there but from the dip in his brows it was clearly meant as a frown.

"The agreement is conditional, it only applies as long as Mewni has nothing with her boundaries that could have anything to do with the shaping of the infinite arch of timelines, and unfortunately for you, some thing, or should I say, someone, has popped up." The king rose angrily at this, he marched up to Cole and snatched him by his tie, pulling him down to eye level.

"Now see here you blasphemic monster, what lies are you spewing in my court? To my wife? Why, the dimension of Mewni has been free from influencing the arch since our founder, the original Queen Butterfly, separated us from the natural flow of the universe!" the man flicked Rivers hand away, his smile finally failing him, resulting in an impassive and unamused glare.

"Believe me, I am aware of your ancestors blatant disregard for the natural order. However, that was then, and this is now, and now, a member of this dimension holds half of a key to shape the multiverse, and as the Observer it is my job and my right to be where they are." The king stared at him incredulously, clearly not believing a word of his.

"Impossible, all born and raised within the dimension of Mewni and her provinces are free from interference, that was the rules and the basis of her spell." At this Cole's smile returned, and with a snap of his fingers Marco and Star went from hiding outside to standing front and center, much to everyone's surprise.

"Ah, just as you said, born and raised, however, a certain starry eyed princess was not fully raised in Mewni, she broke a rule of the Queen's spell, and because of that the Universe was able to grab the strongest manipulator of Magic in all nine dimensions to assure its continuation." the queen covered her mouth, exchanging a forlorn look with her husband and daughter.

"You expect me to believe that such a poor and obvious flaunting of an ancient and powerful spell can actually be used?" the king's voice had cracked however, revealing that his anger was giving way to desperation.

"That's right old man, all moments everywhere are finally reaching their impasse for the first and last time ever. Did you really think that you, ruler of a dimension separated from all others, could continue your peaceful march through non-time? This is your retribution Butterfly, at last the hand of fate has selected an heir of the Butterfly to be one of the two who will either do or don't and it was your pride in her that led to this being able to occur." Marco and Star looked at each other in confusion, not fully grasping why exactly it seemed like such a horrific situation and why Cole's speech pattern had gone from casual to Shakespearean themed dialogue.

"Um, Cole?" Marco called, interrupting the seemingly sinister rant of the man.

"Yeah what's up dude?" and just like that the Cole that they had met twice before was back, grinning as if nothing had happened.

"What's the big deal here? I mean why does River care so much that Star and I are gonna shape the multiverse? And how come Mewni is separated from the flow of the universe or whatever? And why do you seem so happy about all this?" The king and queen shook their heads at him, as if begging him to stop talking.

"Oh well that's easy, see this dick over here's one one thousand times grandmother was a real hag ya know? Not only that but she really liked messing with me by screwing with time and making my job a heck of lot harder. And so one day I go up to her and I'm like 'hey lady, you know if you keep messing with time and everything the universe is gonna correct itself and use something of yours to do it.' But she was all like 'nuh uh, I'm just gonna seperate my dimension and kingdom from the casualty continuum so that the infinite arch of timelines will never be able to catch up to us and that means you'll never be able to come here.' And I was all like 'do it jerkwad and I'll make sure that some day your descendant will play a huge roll in the shaping of the multiverse and when that happens I'll be back!'" Marco and Star stared at the man inquisitively as he took a deep breath from telling the story without pauses or stops.

"Wait but why didn't my ancestor wanna be a part of the flow of the arches anyway? Don't you have to be to exist?" Cole began to float upward, twisting in mid air and bouncing off the walls.

"See, your talking like a normal thinking logical person, but your great granny, she wasn't. See, she thought that by not being a part of the continuum her dimension and future generations were guaranteed a prosperous and forever rule that would be, like, free of outside interference and chance. Thing is, she was right, and that's the reason there hasn't been any natural disasters, any war, any plague, any anything in Mewni ever! Cuz technically this place doesn't exist and does exist at the same time. It's a freaking paradox, a pain in my rear and a stress on the universe all at the same time and dear old mom and dad over there are uber stressed cuz now that I'm finally here and you're one half of the key that means that the non inclusiveness of the Mewni dimension in the infinite arch is at an end, and so too is the Butterfly reign." Star and Marco's eyes widened at that, looking at her parents for confirmation and receiving it with a defeated nod.

"Wait, so does that mean Star won't be queen or something?" Marco asked as Cole ran his hands through the boy's hair.

"Well maybe, basically what it means is that Mewni and this dimension will once more begin to follow a natural flow just like everything else, rather than the perfect Butterfly one that that wicked women set up to keep everything kosher. People will begin to once again question their place in the world, the universe, the multiverse, basic inquisition and primal nature sealed away will start back up again. They'll rise up and war will appear here for the first time ever, just as nature intended." Marco swatted away the floating man, much to his annoyance, and wrapped his arm around the slightly fearful looking Star.

"I get it, by the end of the Butterfly reign you don't mean their rule over the dimension necessarily, you mean the influence of the original Butterfly." Cole nodded gleefully as Marco comforted the girl in his arms.

"Exact-a-mundo!"

"I've got a question though," Marco began, turning to him, the time walker made a gesture to let the boy know he was all ears. "From your story it's clear you have a grudge against the Butterflys, you even mocked her saying that the universe would take something of hers as retribution and you would return one day. Does that mean it didn't have to be me and Star? That you're doing this out of spite?"

The room took on a tense silence, even Cole looked surprised by the complex line of questioning.

"Answer me!"

"Pipe down kiddo, I'm an all knowing being that exists at every time, anytime, you think I've _got_ time to spare on pettiness? Please, it's an unfortunate coincidence at worst, like I said, the universe works automatically to balance itself, and in doing so it created the only link between all infinite timelines and universes that could also act as a counterbalance to the princesses witchy grannies spell. Remember? You two are the only thing that every multiverse has in common, it's gotta be you." Marco nodded, backing down and sucking in a deep breath to calm himself.

"It doesn't matter," the other four looked in shock at the previously silent girl in the room, as if they had forgotten she was even there. "Mom, Dad, I don't know what great granny did to start all this, and I'm not really sure why you guys feel the same way as she did. But if the fate of everything ever anywhere is in me and Marcos hands, then I'm gonna do everything I can to help, whether you want me too or not."

"But Star-"

"It's my duty, as a queen of the people, to make sure they have a home. And if the universe goes under, they won't have one." The king and queen had to back down at that point, having no real reasons to argue with her on that point.

"Besides," she added, turning to Marco now. "This is the very multiverse itself, and that's where Marco is, so I can't just do nothing. Now come on, we're leaving." she snatched him by the hand and pulled him along with her, Cole following and stuck his tongue out at her parents.

"Star wait!" her mother called out, halting the three's progression, Cole and Marco turned but Star remained facing the opposite direction, refusing to acknowledge her.

"Your ancestor did this for her people Star, so that they would never suffer at the terrible hand of fate. She made herself, and by extension us, the Gods of the people so that we could ensure happiness and prosperity among the dimension for all time! If you go with Cole and begin to shape the multiverse, if Mewni does rejoin the arch, then the gears of time will once more flow and we will all be powerless to the consequences. Is that what you want!" her mother's voice had grown hoarse, Marco looked between Star and the queen, worried about what kind of outburst the younger girl would have.

"Some Gods," the princesses voice was calm and level, as if her words were something that had been on her mind for a long time. "By leaving all that power to simple people granny allowed horrible poverty to strike the land, she let monsters be killed and persecuted for no reason other than existing, she let a wand that can rip apart the universe be passed down without anyone having a say in it."

Star turned now, facing her mother boldly, cheeks and eyes glowing like they had the night she faced Toffee.

"If that's the kind of Gods you two want to rule this dimension, then I'd rather take my chances with the hands of fate!" and at her words her wand began to glow, sparks crackling from it.

And then in a flash the wand was enveloped in a pink bubble, coursing and stretching before the room's occupants very eyes. Marco tackled Star to the ground, protecting her body with his own, she could only stare transfixed at the magical device as once again it began to change. With a final release of energy the wand floated towards her, this time covered in a familiar blue glow.

Star snatched it and gasped, examining the new piece in her hands. Where the golden star in the center had once been there was now a spiral shaped galaxy. And where wings and frilly pinks had stood dark royal blues and strange assortment of gears and cogs vaguely resembling wings had appeared. Marco peeped over her shoulder, marveling at the new design.

"And just like that the hands of time have once more begun, allowing the gears of fate to click into place in this world that belongs nowhere. With this new wand, you, Star Butterfly, begin the rule of the Butterfly House anew, guided by the same force that all others are, destiny." Cole waved his hand over the wand, dispersing the blue energy, as it faded the galaxy center began to slowly turn, showing that Mewni was finally moving forward with all other timelines, at least in spirit.

"Guess there's no going back now huh?" Marco asked, grinning as Star gently stroked the new pieces of her wand.

"What, scared that you're gonna fall behind?" she teased him in return, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Nah, I'll chase after you with everything I've got, through this dimension, and any others." and they kissed, not thinking of her parents, or the implications of what their decision meant.

"And what happens if you can't catch up?" she asked, resting her forehead against his own.

"Well, I've got Cole on my side right? I've got all the time in the world to get back to you, I'll manage." she smiled and the two of them let their eyes slip shut, basking in each other's presence and finding a sort of release with the others warm breath.

"I love you, Marco."

"I love you too, Star."

From behind them Cole smiled, he existed at every moment, and in every moment the same result had transpired though in an infinitely different amount of ways. And as his brain took all of time to process the information he let his eyes slip shut, and allowed himself for one moment of his existence, to believe that maybe things would work out from here.

Probably.


	4. The Tether

**Wow, quite a lot going on in this chapter. Anyway it's lengthy and is mostly set up to give more depth to the universe, the goal, and the sacrifices of the characters. I mean if this doesn't get you to sympathize and understand my version of Marco and Star and Cole then I don't know what will. Thank you for reading and please review, favorite and follow.**

 **-Ginn**

After careful deliberation, Marco and Star had decided that they needed to relocate. Staying in Mewni was no longer an option after Star's basic declaration against the crown and her own dynasty. And Marco had agreed that remaining in the dimension any longer would only lead to further complications. They had hurried to her room after the verbal showdown with her parents, hurriedly packing while Marco watched the door for guards.

"Hey Cole," the man, who had been leaning against the opposite door frame, turned to Marco inquisitively. "That huge blue light and the shaking, that was you right?"

He nodded in affirmation, wandering eyes drifting around the many portraits that hung in Star's room.

"How come you made such a big display? You didn't do that when you showed up earlier today." Marco peaked outside the door as he spoke, listening intently for the eventual murmur of security rushing to take them away.

"That wasn't really me, it was a shadow of myself, an after thought that I left in this dimension years ago. I exist at every moment remember? I left a flicker of power behind when I left this dimension the last time just in case I need it to do something." Cole had floated up as he spoke, his arm phasing comically through one of the women's pictures' nose.

"That makes sense I guess, so why the blue explosion anyway?" Marco had lightly closed the door, content for the moment that they would not be thrown into prison for treason any time soon.

"This place exists in non-time, it's usually impossible for me to come in the first place unless I'm invited or if an outside anomaly has already weakened, in this case, the fact that you two were both here at the same time allowed me to enter, but it did take quite a bit of firepower to blast my way in." Cole watched Star from behind as she whispered quick phrases to herself, organizing her strange tools and deciding which outfits to bring.

"You said last time, was that when granny Butterfly sent you packing?" the time walker scoffed and thumped Marco lightly on the back of the head.

"No, the last time I was here was thirty two years ago, around the time that Star's father was just starting his reign." that got both of their attention, the pair exchanged looks of wonder and propped themselves down in front of him, waiting for a story.

The man smiled and obliged.

"There I was, chronicling the rise and fall of about seventeen billion empires that were happening when in the back of my infinite mind I feel a little tingle. And so, being the responsible, observant man that I am, I hurried to the source of the pull, and there it was, the old boundary between the infinite arch and the dimension of Mewni." As he spoke Cole dragged his finger across the air, blue smoke leaking from its tip and displaying strange images and shapes as he spoke.

"Normally, whenever I strolled by the gate it would kinda burn, but this time it was cool to the touch, I was pretty amped! So I reach out and touch it right and there he is, a young version of your father, River Butterfly, dude was taller then too. 'What manner of monster are you!' man did I laugh, I mean come on who talks like that at that age right? But I said 'I'm no monster fool, I'm Cole the Time Walker, now what the heck are you doing to the dimensional field man?' And he was like 'why, I am investigating as king, to assure the continued prosperity of this Mewni and all her provinces I must ensure the continuation of this great boundary.'" Marco and Star had cuddled into each other at that point, leaning against her bed as Cole's strange and wondrous portrayal of the scene danced towards the ceiling.

"So obviously I had to mess with him, so I said 'Hey man, it's kinda my job to watch over all that will transpire, so why don't you let me in for a bit, I'll poke around, tell you your future and then head on my way.' Your dads a good guy so he accepted and with a wave of his staff the boundary fell and I was allowed inside." Shadows began to creep along the wall, blocking out the evening light and consuming them in a stifling darkness.

"And that's when Granny's spell kicked in, see, she figured one day I'd worm my way back into her dimension, so she set up a spell that would awaken tons of these ancient monsters that would wreak havoc until I was gone, man your dad was when he found out, so after a few more pranks I headed out, after all it wasn't like there was any reason for me to be here in the first place ya know?" his story finished the dark tendrils retreated to the corners of the room and warm light poured through the windows once more.

"Wait, so you're the reason monsters terrorize Mewni?" Star suddenly cried out, anger evident in her eyes.

"Well duh I mean think about it, Mewni is supposed to always be perfect cuz that's what your Granny wanted, in that case why would she let monsters exist? But, you know, she needed a scapegoat and stuff just in case something happened so instead of killing all the monsters, she just put em to sleep." as he spoke Stars book on the history of the monster massacre floated upwards, flipping through pages and reshaping the monster pop outs from dead to asleep.

"I can't believe this," Star whispered as the now altered book settled into her hands. "So much history, so many lessons, all lies! And for what, to prevent Mewni from being just like everywhere else? To keep it from being normal?" With a screech the girl ripped the book to pieces, breathing hard and fast as she did her best to suppress her rage.

"But ya know it wasn't all bad, since I was allowed to stay on Mewni I got to be there for every moment of it's own unique timeline as well. And while I was there the most wondrous thing happened, I felt two beings spring into life, two beings who all versions of myself in all moments on the endless loop of timelines and universes witnessed simultaneously being born."

Cole held up a mirror to Star and Marco and when they looked into it, they were children. Star was dressed in a puffy blue dress that already showed traces of her future style and Marco was fitted with a red t-shirt and bermuda shorts, hair so thick it was obscuring his eyes. The two looked at one another and then back in the mirror, marveling at their past selves.

"I got to watch you two come into the flow, so ya know, it wasn't all bad." And as Cole spoke, their past selves grew up within the mirror, going from toddlers to kids, to tweens to early teens and finally their current selves, each wearing a large smile .

"Ya know, for an all powerful whatever you call it you're pretty sappy huh?" Star nudged Cole teasingly who only grinned as the mirror vanished into the air. "Any-a-way, what should we do now? We obvi can't stay here after I basically just said I'm not gonna do what Mewni expects of me, so should we go back to Earth?"

"Actually I was wondering, if we're gonna shape the multiverse and all timelines then it would be handy to have a bunch of people to help right?" Star blinked in surprise, eyes flickering between Cole and Marco.

"Couldn't hurt," replied Cole shrugging.

"Well then why don't we gather the other Star's and Marco's from all the other timelines? Then we could have like, a huge crazy butt kicking army right?" Star squealed at the idea, latching onto Marco and kissing his cheek affectionately.

"Ooo, that would be so cool Marco! We could see all the awesome different versions of us!" the two began to excitedly chatter before Cole stepped in, splitting them from each other with a light hand chop.

"Sorry kids, it doesn't work like that," and when Star and Marco frowned and demanded to know why not he sighed.

"Look, remember what I said, about how all Star's and Marco's exist simultaneously in all multiverses in the exact same way? Well if one pair decides to go meet up with another pair, then that means all pairs try the same thing, which means they'll all be leaping around dimensional space looking for each other, never meet, and be lost forever in time. Sorry kids, but each version of you has to stay just you or else you'll lose your whole existence." The two's faces fell in disappointment, they slouched to the ground in a huff, annoyed by the ever growing restrictions.

"Okay but what about-" however Marcos question was cut off by a sudden explosion in the window and the emergence of several shadowy forms.

"A-ha! Didn't think we'd have the knocks to attack you in your own heavily fortified castle home hmm? Well guess again princess, now grab the wand!" Ludo and his minions charged towards the shocked duo, who quickly shook it off and began to engage in combat.

Cole meanwhile was perplexed, it made no sense that Ludo would attack now, and here, given his past record. It made even less sense that they would attack at this exact moment, rather than earlier before he had managed to fully enter Mewni. The time walker maneuvered around the fights and beasts, approaching the sneaking bird creature curiously. Ludo however, caught on and was quick to whip out a weapon.

"Stay back, don't make me use this!" he had produced a strange looking camera, which despite his warning, fired off anyway, piercing Cole with a beam that seemed to do nothing more than tingle.

"Hey, back off!" Marco came charging at Ludo and Cole's eyes widened, in an instant the situation became dire. Ludo pointed the camera at Marco, Cole realized what the camera was and moved to block it, and finally the button was pressed and a beam shot out at Marco, enveloping the boy into nothingness.

The fighting ceased immediately, Star halting her onslaught of terror and turning a pale face and dropped jaw towards Ludo. The short war lord was examining his device, muttering to himself as he shook it. A firm kick came from behind, sending him sprawling and the camera into Cole's hands, who was looking at it worriedly.

"W-What…" Star failed to form a coherent sentence as she approached the time walker, pointing between him, Ludo and the device in his hands. "Is, can you…"

"Yeah, he's alive alright, but that's the only good news I can give you kiddo." Cole held the camera above his head, worried over what Star would do if she grabbed it.

"Wow that thing works way better than I thought! Can't believe it actually incinerated karate kid!" She was on the bird in an instant, seizing him by the throat and slamming him into a wall, wand positioned and glowing, ready to perform its first ever kill.

"Ludo," her voice was calm, regal even, its absolution ringing through the room and causing the rest of the monsters to bow their heads in fear. "What is that, and where is he."

"I-I dunno! I just found it in the basement and thought it looked cool I swear!" his words were choked and forced as his facial color began to change.

"It's a dimensional copier, must have been one that I missed when I was destroying em." Star and the rest of the occupants turned to him as he spoke, however her grip on the creature in her hand only tightened.

"What's it do?" she asked, voice still cold as she walked over with the monster in her grasp, struggling on the verge of consciousness.

"Basically, it scans which dimension one person is from and then sends another person there, kinda like a way basic and useless form of the dimensional scissors." at the news Star seemed to be somewhat relieved and dropped the now gurgling Ludo to the ground, his body twitched as a monster scooped him up protectively

"Oh, well that's great right? Ludo scanned you so we just have to go to whatever dimension you're from and get him, let's go!" Cole rubbed the back of his sheepishly and Star's face fell with the obvious gesture.

"Okay see, honesty time, when I became the Time Walker, my essence was kinda scattered to the quantum winds. So basically, even though I exist at every moment everywhere, my real body no longer has a place where it can be identified as being from." the man let out an awkward chuckle which was quickly cut off by Stars hands wrapping around his collar and shoving him against the nearby wall.

"Ha! How's it feel jerk!" Ludo called as he and his gang made a hasty retreat, Cole sent them a glare before redirecting his attention to the fuming girl before him.

"What. Does. That. Mean." with each word she brought their faces closer together, eyes becoming more and more enraged.

"Well, it means that right now, Maro's in kind of a similar situation as Mewni, he's in a pocket dimension, called Non-Time."

"Oh jeez my head, feels like someone cracked it open, threw up, shook it all up and then drank it down." Marco groaned in pain as he peeled his face away from a floor of red and purple tiling.

Standing up in a groggy daze he took account of his surroundings. As far as the eye could see was white space, and floating within that space were random relics, some familiar and some otherwordly. From his position he made out several old naval vessels, ranging from B.C. to just a few years ago. The objects seemed to have no anchor to the ground and instead were randomly frozen in bizarre positions in mid air.

Rubbing his head the boy began to walk forward, there were no paths, no roads, no directions, only his random instinct. He fought back raw panic as he moved, sweat began to drip down his neck and he broke into a sprint, hands nervously raking through his hair. Finally he came to a stop in front of what appeared to be a library, though only half of one.

"Oh God, where's the exit and how the heck do I get out of here!" a sudden squeak from behind grabbed his attention.

"You don't, well I mean you probably could but you won't, woah did that rhyme that was awesome!" sitting several feet away from him was a young boy in a wheeled office chair, he was spinning himself around, laughing as he almost tipped over.

Marco sprinted over and stopped the chair, desperately trying to keep himself calm despite the strangeness of the situation. The boy looked up at him, brown hair disheveled and green eyes wide and calm.

"Woah, who are you?" the stranger asked as Marco struggled to catch his panicked breath.

"Who am I? Who are you, and where am I?" he shouted in answer, spinning around and gesturing to the strange place, much to the boys amusement.

"I'm the Tether, and this is Non-Time, or maybe I have a cooler name, well anyway the point is that's you answer, but who are you? You know, people don't usually just pop here, places sure, sometimes even animals, but never people." the tether had hopped down from his chair and began walking away, Marco in tow.

"My name's Marco, Marco Diaz, I'm from Earth, well I was in Mewni with Star. Oh man Star I hope she's okay, hey can you get me back to Mewni?" The Tether didn't respond, instead he seemed more focused on taking in the sights.

"Marco Diaz huh? That name sounds familiar, but it probably doesn't. I dunno, Cole sees so much stuff that it's like seeing nothing at all." At the mention of the familiar name Marco sank to his knees and grabbed the boy by his shoulders, turning him abruptly around.

"Did you say Cole? As in Cole the Time Walker Cole? You know him? Oh thank you Lord!" Marco jumped in elation while the smaller boy watched him in fascination, large eyes confused by the sudden emotional shift.

"Know him? I am him!" at this Marco froze and turned to look at him, this time his own eyes wide with disbelief.

"What? Look I know Cole and he doesn't look anything at all like you, I mean he's an adult and you're just a kid, plus you have normal eyes!" at his words the Tether inspected himself, as if testing to see if the other boy was right.

"Well yeah but that doesn't make me any less Cole. I'm Cole from the moment before he became the Time Walker, his tether to the physical plane, what you think a dude can exist at every moment everywhere anywhere and not have to have some kind of hold to some physical plane? What kinda joke is that?." Marco felt his head tingle with the familiar headache of new knowledge.

"Alright," he said sighing and plopping himself down, pulling out a notebook and pen from his hoodie. "Explain it to me, and keep it simple."

"Oh, alright um, okay well Cole, well me, I wasn't always the Time Walker, in fact, before I was a Time Walker I was a human boy from Earth if you can believe that! I was a blacksmith's apprentice in the Medieval age, at least I think that's what the time was called. Man what a crappy time to be alive, anything you ate could kill you and baths were once a year max. Anyway, there I was, in good ol' Europe living my ordinary life when all of a sudden, bam a crazy portal opens and out steps this weird little girl with hearts on her cheeks!" The Tether, the other Cole, was becoming lost in his own story, eyes distant as he spoke.

"Wait hearts? Does that mean she was from Mewni?" Cole nodded excitedly, impressed by the utterance of the dimension.

"That's right she was! She kept saying she was some sort of young queen who vanquished monsters and protected her people or something and that she was here to help. But then I told her we already had a rad king and we were good, so I asked if maybe instead she could show me some cool monsters. She was all about it and brought some from her home, Mewni like you said, and we got to fight them and it was a blast! After that she came back almost every month to play with me, until one day she asked me to come visit her home." At this the other Cole's eyes darkened, clouding over as a bitter memory came to him.

"So I said yes, like an idiot, and stepped through the portal. I dunno how much you know, Marco, about dimensional travel but this was before dimensional scissors even existed, only wicked powerful magic users could open portals. But see, since the portals were so crazy unstable, only wicked powerful people could go through them, and I wasn't one of them." The Tethers attention turned to his hand which slowly started to disintegrate into blue steam only to quickly reform.

"By the time I even realized what was happening my existence had already been scattered to all moments of time in the infinite arch of the multiverse, which I'm sure you already know, but maybe not. In an instant I went from a normal kid to an all knowing speck of consciousness who had experienced all of infinity, and finally, after learning and seeing all there was, I was reformed in a new dimension, a frozen one, by Father Time." Once more steam rose from the boy, this time forming illusions to flow with the story.

"Father Time wasn't really a fan of mine, he was kinda peeved that I knew all there was to know and said I had to stay with him now, watching him run on that stupid wheel until time finally reached its conclusion. 'Nuts to that!' I said to him, pretty brave huh? But I was like 'No way man, I'm not staying here I wanna go home, I wanna see my friend what the heck dude!' Didn't really do much, and for a few thousand years all I did was whine until finally the guy turns to me on his wheel and is like 'Alright fine jeez! Look, I'll let you leave if you do a job for me, become the Observer, and bare witness to all the events that will shape the multiverse, with your powers it won't take that long right?' So I was like sweet yeah, and I took the job and he sent me home." The previously white void that Marco had landed in had begun to darken as the other Cole spoke, black replacing the emptiness and the boys images become more contorted and eerie.

"But it wasn't as clean cut as I thought. When Father Time said 'bare witness to every event' I thought meant just the big stuff, but turns out that old freak meant every single event everywhere anywhere at the same time since technically every event shapes the multiverse, that monster tricked me and punished me! So there I was, experiencing an unending infinite amount of moments at once, going completely crazy, I had do something right? So I did, I split myself. One part of me would be the original me,a me that would absorb all the information from observing and record it, and the other part would be a slick, cool, suave me that would do the actual observing, that way the workload would be split and I could actually exist with some form of sanity." Marco slowly rose, unnerved by the change in atmosphere and the darkness that had crept into the space and voice.

"Wait, how did you split yourself in the first place?" The Tether didn't turn around, but answered regardless.

"I didn't really split, I just traveled back a few millennia, grabbed the me who was stuck in Father Time's dimension, linked him to me via time stream and plopped him down here, wait I mean plopped me down here, it's kinda confusing to think about and I don't really like to but the point is I'm here now. I'm the memory of all things observed, and that other Cole you know is kinda like the field reporter who goes and finds the big scoops, except that every scoops a big scoop." Marco agreed with a hum and moved so that he was kneeling in front of the boy, hand lightly grabbing his shoulder.

"Look, Cole, that's a really cool story and all and I'd love to hear more one day, but right now I've gotta get back to Star, is there any way to go home?" At his voice Cole snapped out of his storytelling and the room returned to normal.

"Not that I know, well actually I do but I just can't remember, I mean I do remember just not right now, with every moment flowing into my head from the other Cole it kinda just goes in one ear and right out the other ya know?" Marco wailed and fell forward, desperately grabbing onto the Tethers shoulder.

"But you said your the memory right? That means that there's gotta be something in that head of yours that can tell me how to get home!" Cole looked thoughtful and flicked his hands away from him, causing Marco to fall flat on his face.

"Well maybe there is a way, just not in my head." With a snap of his fingers the room began to move, sprinting forward like a treadmill and coming to an abrupt halt, sending Marco flying into a thick wall.

Only it wasn't a wall.

Marco groaned as he looked up, before him was a yellow mountain range, stretching on into the unseeable distance. Marco gazed in wonder, however upon closer inspection it came to his attention that it wasn't just an Earthly hill of dirt and stone, it was made of files. Thick yellow files stacked upon each other reaching high into the unending sky. Marco snatched one and flipped it open, skimming through the contents.

"December 8th, 1996, Maria Henely cheats on husband Jacob Henely and is impregnated, can't wait to see this one!" Marco blanched and returned the file to the pile, backing away in disbelief.

"Oh man my other self is really snarky, see it's moments like that which really put love in perspective right?" Marco looked between the small boy and the infinite hill, slowly comprehending what was before him.

"This-This is you isn't it? This is your part as the observer, these are all the moments ever observed written down. Jeez I mean when you said it goes in one ear right out the other I didn't think you meant like this!" as he spoke yet another file spouted from Cole's ear, landing neatly in the pile in an almost comical fashion.

"Something like that, I don't give it much thought you know? It's like, it's just there you know? I don't even have time to paw through all of it, I just gotta wait till time ends and then I'll finally be able to organize and read all this crap." As he spoke Cole kicked the mountain of files in distaste. "Anyway, if you wanna find a way outta here and back to Mewni and Star or whoever the answer is probably in here, maybe,"

Marcos legs finally gave out, there was no panic, no fear, only hopelessness. With an infinite mountain filled with every moment everywhere and anywhere written out with snarky comments it would take all of time to read through each one. There was even a chance that the information wouldn't be there.

"There's more good news too, see since we're in a pocket dimension there's no natural flow of time here. So like, when you do find a way to travel through time and space back to Star you'll be able to return to the exact moment after you were zapped here, even if it takes until the end of time!" Cole seemed to genuinely feel that this was a good idea.

"But I don't wanna spend all of time here! I wanna go back now, dang it I wonder if every version of myself is dealing with this!" Marco slammed his hand into the pile, causing a flood of files to pile on him.

"They are, the other infinite moments of me are having the same sad conversation with you right now, and the other Cole just explained the same story too all the Stars too, probably, she's pretty pissy too." The Tether had found yet another office chair and had begun to spin in it.

"That's it!" Marco cried, poking his head out from the pile of files. "Infinite you's and infinite me's!"

The boy hopped out of the paper prison and grabbed the other Cole from the chair placing him on his feet. The small boy looked at him confused as Marco grabbed a single file in his hands and presented to him.

"Ok so like, all of the me's are currently doing what I'm doing at the same time since we're all connected, and you exist at every single moment with them. But unlike me, you can change what you're doing from moment to moment while all of me will do the same thing at the same time. So if every version of you were to give every version of me a different file and we all read it at the same time, then all of the me's would all know everything we've read since everything about us is shared at the same time!" The Tether looked at the file in his hands and then back at Marco, his face was twisted into a bit of a frown.

"Sharing information with alternate versions of yourself? Marco that's way risky, and on top of that, I'm not even sure you're normal human brain could comprehend it." Maroc looked disheartened, but only for a moment.

"But you were a human once, and now you process all moments ever, please can we at least try?" Giving one final sigh the Tether nodded and grabbed a new file from the pile, a determined look on his face.

"Since I exist in every moment I've made sure that every moment of myself has grabbed a new file, like you said, and the moment I give it to you, all versions of myself will give all infinite you's a new, different file to read. But Marco I gotta warn you dude, you do this, and you may cease to exist from learning everything about anything okay?" the boy didn't take a moment to think, he simply nodded

With a final sigh the other Cole handed Marco the file. He took it and began to read, his file was one concerning a moment where a man was contemplating suicide. It was four pages and the details and commentary from Cole himself made him cringe, but he trudged through it. If he only scanned it, or didn't take in all the information carefully, then no versions of himself would.

And finally he hit the last word.

"Alright done, now if I'm right it should-" before he finished though he collapsed to his knees, screaming and writhing in agony as an eternity of forbidden information on all that was flooded his brain, overloading and threatening to break it.

"Told you it would hurt, you think some normal kid can just take in all that? Man, I can barely take in all of it!" Cole sank to his knees, raising Marco's head from the ground and forcing his eyes open with his fingers.

"P-Please Cole," he rasped, sweat oozing from every pore. "Do something, please I'm, I'm about to.."

"Why should I? I warned you didn't I? Besides it's not like you'll die, you'll just suffer in agony for all time until you finally process it all." The Tether seemed truly uninterested in the suffering of the boy before him, shaking his head in his hands as if it were a toy.

"B-Because I need to go home! Because Star needs me, and because, because the other Cole, and you too, y-you're my friend." his voice gave and what little strength he had clung to gave out and Marcos head slammed to the floor where he began convulsing, eyelids snapping as he entered a seizure like state.

The other Cole took a step back to examine the boy who had just confessed friendship to him. A warmth filled his chest, it had been so many years since someone had said those words to him. Technically, an eternity as he had been sent back to the beginning of time and then to the end. And yet, the memory of the young girl with hearts on her cheek and love in her eyes rang through him, reminding him of the heat that came with the word friend.

"Alright, but this is strike two." The Tether sat down and with a quick jerk shoved his hand directly through Marcos skull, taking a hold of his brain and holding it.

The pain stopped immediately.

"W-What's-"

"I've taken a hold of your brain and put it in yet another pocket dimension where time is flowing infinitely faster, in a moments it will have processed all the information that all the you's have read." The other Cole wore a proud smile as he held what was essentially all of Marco in his small palm.

"Wait, so you could have done this the whole time?" Marco whispered groggily, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Ope looks like we're done here we go!" his hand retracted and Marco sucked in a deep breath.

All of a sudden he knew everything, and strangely enough at the same time it felt as if he didn't. The information was flitting about his mind, every time he grasped onto something it slipped away and a new piece took it's place. The process repeated and Marco found it impossible to sort through any of the new information, let alone understand it. Essentially, he was back to square one

"See, the trick is to focus on key words, kinda like looking something up. Just think as specifically as possible and go from there." Marco nodded and followed the instructions, doing his best to sort through the endless moments.

He started by thinking of the simplest word he could, time, however there were so many moments with that word in it that it was of no help. Next he focused on time travel, however most of the moments were of those obsessed with the idea who had died in the process. Finally his mind focused enough to conjure the phrase 'dimensional travel through time from pocket dimensions' and only one moment appeared. It was from Cole himself, the first Cole, and was a record of the moment where the observer Cole left the Tether Cole in this random dimension to guard the moments while he returned to the rest of the infinite arch.

There it was, the answer.

With a second gasp Marco sat straight up and without a word leapt to his feet and began to run. The other Cole followed, chasing after him as they passed by more clutters of random artifacts from time. Finally, Marco came to a stop in front of what appeared to be nothing more than a chunk of bathroom that had been ripped from a house. The boy stood outside the door entrance, breathing heavily and concentrating.

"Oh man everything's leaking out, in a few moments I'll forget everything, even that I was here, and so will every other me I gotta get back now!" However, before he could grab the door there was a tug on his sweatshirt, the Tether had appeared, a forlorn look etched across his face.

"Forget the fact that you were even here huh? Guess that kinda makes you saying we were friends pointless if you don't even remember." Marco was running out of time, but another, larger part of him tugged, urging him to get the last word in.

"Hey," he said softly, kneeling down to eye level. "Even when I do forget everything that happened here, I'll still be friends with the other you. And your him, so I'll still be friends with both of you, and one day I just know that I'll end up back here and we'll get to hang out all you want, I'll even bring Star too!"

That got the other Cole to smile.

Returning it, Marco stood and opened the bathroom door, on first glance there seemed nothing out of the ordinary about it. He took a step and as he did the door slammed shut, and when he looked to his side there was no blank void filled with other random pieces of scrap, but instead warm brown walls. Gasping Marco moved to the door and threw it open, and standing on the other side was Star, gripping Cole's collar and angrily yelling at him.

"Star!" his voice was a teary eye whisper but he didn't know why, after all he had only been in the bathroom for a moment.

At his voice Star seemed to calm, a look of uncertainty on her face, and then she turned towards him with a brilliant smile. They charged each other, meeting in the center and colliding in a deep hug and loving kiss. Neither of them was really sure why they were so distraught in the first place. Star couldn't remember what her fear and anguish had been about, and Marco was still confused on why his trip to the bathroom had felt like an eternity.

The information had completely leaked out, and because it had been as if he had never been there, Star too and all who had been affiliated with the event no longer understood that anything had happened at all.

No one would remember, except Cole, both of them.

In the pocket dimension where artifacts from all time were stored, where all recorded moments of everyone and everything were stored, the Tether returned to his office chair. In his hand was tan doll with brown hair and painted on brown eyes. The other Cole slipped a clumsily cut red sweatshirt over him and began to move it, speaking in a poor deep imitation.

"I'll come back and hang out one day, I'll even bring Star!" Cole smiled warmly as he remembered.

"Sorry Marco, but I forgot to tell you, there's an exit, but you can only come back if you remember how to get here!" he replied to the doll in his own voice, holding it above his head as he leaned back.

"So what does that mean!" the doll asked, voice cracking in desperation.

"It means it was nice to meet you Marco, but then again, it probably wasn't."

For the first time since he had become the Tether, since he had been scattered to the quantum fields, since he had reformed as the Time Walker, since had had been brought here to do his punishment job, the other Cole, the original Cole, the child Cole felt a warmth in his heart and eyes.

Next to him lay an open file, the file that Marco had randomly grabbed and handed to him. The file which the other Cole had put back into the pile, after all infinite moments of himself had helped Marco there was one file left over, one file that didn't need to be read.

June 11th, 2015. Marco Diaz arrives and befriends the version of Cole the Time Walker known as The Tether, unaware that any interaction within the dimension will be null void upon leaving.

From the beginning, there had never been a chance for him, the other Cole felt his throat swell up in a now almost unfamiliar way. Finally, he felt himself give way, felt the eternity of crushing responsibility fall upon him. He felt all that he had lost, all that he would and had missed out on flow into him from all moments and felt all aspects of himself connect for but a single fragment of time.

And for that one brief moment, he let the tears flow freely.


	5. The Fond Memories

**This chapters considerably shorter than the rest but with the small following it seems to have it was hard to work up the energy to write more. Thank you a ton to the continuous readers and followers and please continue to comment and favorite as it's what keeps me writing. This chapter was more focused on exposing more back story on Star and Marco while also introducing a new character. I also wanted to talk a bit more about Marco measuring up against Stars taste in men because let's face it guys, she has a taste and it's the dangerous type who are also cool and understanding.**

"A game plan?" Cole blinked in surprise, digging into his ear as if to make sure he was hearing correctly, however Marco's determined nod answered the question for him.

"Yeah, you know, like a strategy? We need to have a good plan for when we shape the future right?" Both Star and Cole looked at the boy before returning to their respective tasks, Star was reading through her spell book and Cole was aging a flower.

After Ludos attack Marco and Star had realized that it didn't really matter where they went after leaving Mewni as the bird and his monsters would be able to track them via the wand anyway. With that in mind they had decided the best course of action was to simply return to Earth and go from there. They had left on bad terms with the Diaz family and had been nervous up their arrival, however when they entered the house they found that there was no one around.

"Don't worry," Cole had said, walking by the pair and propping himself up on the couch. "I figured your parents would overreact and there'd be a whole thing and that seemed really time consuming so I came over here this morning and sent them on a vacation."

Usually Marco would be on the verge of a panic attack at the mention of his parents being sent away by a stranger, however this time it was more of a blessing. The boy had taken their bags upstairs and unpacked in their respective rooms before returning to the living room where Star and Cole had begun casual tasks as if they had been living together their entire lives.

"A strategy huh? Oh man do we even need one? I mean that sounds so boring, how about we just play it by ear, sound good?" Star nodded in agreement without looking up from her tome and Cole flashed the boy a thumbs up.

"No we can't just 'play it by ear' I mean come on guys, we're shaping the future of everything how can you guys even be so calm?" Marco was getting worked up which finally got Stars attention, the bubbly girl hopped from her position and threw herself into him with a bone crushing hug.

"Relax Marco, it's not like we can do anything until something actually happens right?" her counterpart however didn't seem to share in her optimism and instead shrugged her off.

"Yeah I mean Marco we don't even know what it is that you two do that shapes the future, for all we know you two growing old and dying together could be what does it, stop treating this like war prep." Cole had dug out a soda from under the couch and cracked it open, the contents sprayed on his suit and with a snap of his fingers returned to the can as if nothing had happened.

"Am I the only one here that cares about, you know, shaping the future?" Once more Star and Cole shared an almost worried look before returning their attention to the now shouting boy. Star's eyes took on a softer edge and Marco felt almost sickened for the near pity he saw there.

"You know what whatever, screw it, clearly I'm the crazy one here for caring, sorry!" With a primal scream of rage he knocked a lamp off of a nearby table before he stormed upstairs, slamming the door to his room and sending the house into an awkward silence.

The time walker however seemed uninterested in the tantrum of the boy and seemed incredibly content to simply age and and then reverse the process over and over again. Star came to sit heavily next to him, observing the strange phenomenon that the man seemed to be doing so mindlessly. Every time the flower would begin to wilt and die a wrist flick would bring it back from the brink, straightening its stem and giving it new life.

"He always like that?" For a moment the girl didn't answer, she mulled the question over before answering.

"It's complicated, when we first met he was, like a lot, he would get really frustrated when I never took any of the fights or life or death situations seriously, I dunno it just makes him angry when he's the only one who's serious I guess." Cole nodded and finally allowed the flower to tip over and die.

"Sometimes," she started, looking off towards the ceiling and what would be Marcos floor. "Sometimes I think he's like that cuz life's just too much ya know? Like it's just way too much to deal with and he's just gotta let it out and the only way he knows how is to yell or hit something."

There was something distraught in her voice, as if the fact depressed her to no end. And maybe it did, for a dimensional princess who used adventure to fill the gnawing void in her heart caused by the overwhelming future there wasn't time to be spent brooding. However Marco was different, he was just a normal boy, and with the introduction of Star his world, his universe became so much grander and scarier. His way of dealing with it was by taking everything as seriously as possible, but to the girl, who had already seen so much of it, being serious was akin to being dead.

It wasn't the first time she had thought about their severe differences. Back when they had only been two best friends hanging out every day it had become quickly apparent that Marco wasn't a huge risk taker, or rather, he hated the idea of them. In his mind, if they could plan and avoid any problems, then they should take the time too, which came into play later when they created the Interdimensional Adventure Guide. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Star knew that worrying was the last thing that should be done. The universe and dimensional planes were chaotic, unfathomable places, the best thing to do was to take it head on and see what happened.

More than one argument had sprung up as a result of that thinking,

His straight laced, stick to the plan lifestyle was one of the very few deterrents that he had in Stars eyes and she was sure that if he abandoned those ways he would feel a freedom and openness that he had never known. Instead though, he clung to them, his fear and unease and the angst that came with his age formed a cocktail of anxiety that to Star was an adventure in itself, and not always a pleasant one. In fact, she would admit only to herself, it had been one of the major reasons that she had refused to look at Marco in a romantic fashion.

In a way they were just too different.

If Star were to compare Marco to all other romantic partners than she would easily be able to point out the core difference between them and him. Marco was safe, and the others were not and that was all there was to it. Stars exes were wild, they were demons, gods, beings of power, warriors, they were adventurous and yearned for the unknown, for change, that was what had attracted her to them in the first place. However, their flaw always ended up being the same thing, possessiveness, she was an object to all of them, a prize that they had won and had every right to do with as they saw fit.

But Marco, her sweet, loving Marco, didn't see her as that, not even as a potential romantic interest at first. Instead he saw her as a companion, a human being who needed to be treated with tender care and affection because one day, she would have to turn her back on all that and become a cold and distant queen. She would be forced to abandon herself, her individuality in order to become the strong leader her kingdom needed. And Marco knew that, and so rather than lead her around on insane romps through dimensions like she did with him, he did all that he could to bring structure to her life, to introduce her to the wonders of normalcy.

Through this, he thought, once she became queen, everything new she did would seem like a new adventure. It was a nice idea, and in some sense it did work, and while he introduced peace and tranquility to her, the princess showed him the wonders of adventure, risk, and the thrill of doing more in a day then most people would do in their entire lives.

One adventure, however, had showed the boy just how much life Star had lived.

It had been a particularly grueling week, test after test, so much work in fact that even Marco was exhausted. The pairs minds were shot and even laying down to watch television was far too much work. To add to that was the emotional exhaustion of only a month ago starting their romantic relationship. It was slow going and unclear whether things were even changing between the two.

And Marco saw this and chose to act quickly.

"Hey Star, how about to celebrate test week ending we go to some awesome dimension and do a quest or something?" she had perked up immediately at that and grabbed her scissors, her overworked mind and body always energized by the prospect of adventure.

"Oh Marco that's a great idea, I've got the perfect dimension too!" she snagged him by the arm and hurled them through into the void.

The boy skidded through, scraping himself against grass and rock and coming to a halt at the edge of a cliff. After brushing himself off and surveying the land he felt the wind in his lungs leave him. They were overlook a vast plain of green, dotted with infinitely changing flowers and grazing animals. The field seemed to stretch on forever and to either of his side stretched a mountain range that encircled it.

Beautiful didn't even begin to describe it.

"Isn't it amazing Marco? This is a dimension where everyone lives in the mountain range and the field below provides everything they need. I thought you'd like it since your karate is all about peace and tranquility and being at one with nature and-" he cut her off with a kiss, it was brief and nervous but it was there and it made the smile on her face grow to near splitting proportions.

Giggling she cuddled up under his arm and giving a swift tug the two descended towards a nearby village. The houses seemed more modern than the ones on Mewni and if Marco hadn't known where they were he would have sworn they had entered a retro suburbia. Also like Mewni were the places inhabitants, who appeared very much human aside from one characteristic. Their skin was cold and grey, each person's varied in design and markings, after bumping into one Marco also realized that they were as hard as stone.

"Star Butterfly as I live and breathe," Star squealed at the voice and broke from Marco, running towards a boy who seemed very similar to them in age.

His skin was by far the lightest of the villagers and closest to normal human. Golden eyes matched his perfect smile, completing the otherworldly look that he gave. Every part of his body seemed strong and refined and were adorned with various items needed for travel. Despite his load he still managed to entrap the blonde girl in a tight hug, they fit together familiarly, as if they had embraced many times before.

Marco felt the tiniest bit of red enter his vision.

"And who's this, a friend of yours?" the stranger shook his hand roughly and the earth boy could tell that he was being appraised by the shake.

"Yup, this is Marco, my best bestie ever and also my boyfriend!" she giggled as the words left her mouth and flung herself onto his back, choking him in the process.

There was no scoff as the boy had expected, instead the taller man simply scratched his chin in thought. Marco clenched his fists, waiting for the inevitable teasing that he always seemed to receive when his relationship to the girl was made clear. Instead however, he simply turned around and began to walk.

"Well," he called over his shoulder as he descended towards the field. "If you're looking for adventure, which I know you are, you better catch up!"

Star clapped excitedly and skipped after him, using her wand to propel herself into the air and land easily among the flat surfaces. Marco followed her the best he could, jumping from rock to rock and catching his balance any time he swayed. Several feet before they caught up Marco snagged the girl by her collar and pulled her to him, much to her surprise and embarrassment.

"Star, who is this guy? How do you even know him?" He questioned her anxiously, eyes looking anywhere but at her.

"Oh right I didn't introduce you too, he's Derrick, just an ex of mine, we used to adventure a lot!" Marco's face paled and he allowed the girl to slip from her grasp and skip off, breathing life into passing rocks and shooting down flying beasts without looking

Derrick had apparently already been planning on heading down to the field, which turned out to be named the Field of Eternal Suffering, in order to resupply some pelts that he sold from town to town. For the most part of their journey to the plane he kept the blonde girl occupied with stories of his quests and battles which she ogled over. Every now and then he would even flex a scar which she would trace with no small amount of glee.

Marco had considered a variety of things as he watched them, he considered simply walking away and seeing if they noticed, he considered kissing Star in front of the other boy as a claim, he even considered challenging him to a fight. However as he played out each scenario in his head they all met with the same fate, he was humiliated and Star was irate. With that in mind he contented himself to silence, keeping to himself and loudly kicking rocks.

One rock was a little too big.

He felt in the instant he kicked it and as he watched it tumble and gather speed as well as other rocks all he could do was yell to the girl who was currently in its destructive path. Star turned too late however and just as she was about to be crushed Derrick stepped in it's way, the boulders bounced or shattered harmlessly against his body. Marco bolted down to them, face pale as he inspected her.

"S-Star are you alright!" she giggled and brushed him off, replying that she was fine thanks to Derrick, the two shared an almost secretive smile and the tiniest part of Marcos brain wished that the rock had crushed the two of them.

They made camp at the base of the field as night fell, Derrick said that he would take care of food, shelter and warmth, Marco and Star were his guest and should take the time to rest and decompress. Star had waved as he left and Marco had bitingly wished him good luck before wandering towards the line where stone gave way to warm brown earth.

"Alright Diaz what is it, what's going on, you've been cranky all day is your blood sugar low again?" He flushed with embarrassment at the voice and shook his head, pulling his sweatshirt tight around his head before turning to stare at her.

"You know I think I finally get it," Star cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "I think I finally get why you're dating me."

"Cuz I love you?" her face flushed the usual light red that it always did when she made such a confession, Marco however ignored it.

"No, it's cuz I'm the safe kid. I get it now, all these crazy, amazing, powerful adventure type guys they must have worn you out right? So you decided, 'hey while I'm on earth I might as well date someone opposite, see how it feels' and so you just went and-" However he never got to finish as he suddenly hit the ground with a heavy thud, it took a moment for him to realize that Derrick was standing over him, fuming with rage while Star was behind him quietly sobbing.

"Who talks to their lady like that jerk!" the taller boy turned on heel and gently escorted the girl back towards camp, sending a warning glare to Marco over his shoulder.

The beaten boy punched the ground in frustration, wiping away the blood that had trickled from his nose.

He lay there well into the night and kept his mind preoccupied with observing the stars. They were so different from the ones on Earth, some of them even glowed various colors. The moon as well was strange, it seemed to go through a full lunar cycle in just under an hour before restarting. Soon though he was forced to confront his problem as once again Derrick made his presence known. This time he stayed violence in favor of a loud grunt as he lay beside the smaller boy.

They looked at the night sky in silence for only a moment.

"You know none of what you said to her is true." He wasn't asking a question as much as he was reminding Marco of the obvious.

"Yeah I know, sometimes though that's how it feels ya know? I mean look at you dude, you're this incredible awesome looking adventurer who has tons of stories. And I'm just some guy from the lamest dimension ever whose coolest story was finishing a nacho challenge at a restaurant." Marco covered his face in frustration, he didn't want to cry in front of an ex of Stars regardless of the circumstances, but it was starting to look like he wouldn't be able to keep his personal promise.

"What are nachos?"

"Nevermind."

They returned to silence and Marco felt like crawling into the field and facing whatever horrors lay within was better than the awkward silence the two had fallen into. Finally though, Derrick sat up and began rummaging around under his shirt. With a fierce tug he ripped what appeared to be a pendant from his chest and held it in front of the boy. The gold piece glittered in the moonlight and unlatched with a click.

Inside was a picture of Derrick embracing a smaller and slightly younger boy. The two were smiling at whoever had taken the picture. Derrick lowered it until it sat lightly in Marcos hands. The boy held it at arm's length, not quite understanding the point of the gesture as the boy stood up and brushed himself off.

"Um, so who's-"

"You're jealous right?" Marco instantly bit down on his lower lip and looked in the opposite direction, he didn't want to admit anything to the stone boy but he knew that his silence spoke volumes. "Well, then with this you shouldn't be right?"

"With this?" Now the boys attention was grabbed, his interest piqued at the cryptic words and the surprising embarrassed blush on Derricks face. "With this what? This picture of your brother?"

"That's my boyfriend," Marco froze, blinking as if trying to take in the information.

"Y-You're boyfriend, so then," he trailed off as the implications of what he was being told finally set in.

"That's the reason it didn't work between me and Star man, it was nothing against her, I'm just wired this way you know?" Marco nodded slowly, he felt a blush creep up his cheeks at his loss of words. "But you know what in a way I'm glad things worked out like this."

Marco looked up questioningly, Derrick shot him a warm smile as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, like, I'm glad that me and Star went our separate ways cuz she met you ya know? I mean this whole trip she's been skipping next to me telling me how awesome and perfect for each other you are. She never talked like that about anyone else she dated, not even Tom." Marco shoved away the mention of the demonic ex and the fact that he seemed to be the golden standard and instead smiled and gracefully accepted the compliment.

"Oh man, I really messed up huh?" Derrick nodded and with a good natured smile picked Marco up by his underarms and carried him towards the campsite, towards Star.

"You sure did dude, but now's your chance to make it up to her." With a thump Marco landed on the log next to Star, the two exchanged surprised glances and then looked away, Marco in shame and Star in anger.

Derrick slipped away, using collecting more firewood as an excuse to give the two time to make amends. Star kept her gaze in the opposite direction of Marco, staring intently at the mountain range as if trying to find something. Marco smiled and took a breath to calm himself, there was no point getting worked up, that was what had caused the situation in the first place.

"Derricks a really great guy huh? I'd like to meet his boyfriend too, see what he's like." Star spun around at this, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Woah he told you that? It took him like, a year before he finally opened up to me like that what the heck Marco!" The boy simply smiled, glad to have her attention back on him.

"Brothers in arms I guess," Star however seemed unimpressed and though she didn't turn away she still looked less than thrilled.

"I screwed up Star," he began, eyes focused on the intensity of the high burning fire. "I got so obsessed with jealousy, with comparing myself to him, that I forgot to just enjoy being with you."

He looked at her now, her eyes were honed in on his, waiting, hoping that he would find the perfect words to quell her sadness and rage. Taking a chance he scooted towards her and gently intertwined their fingers. She didn't pull away but her face remained impassive.

"Most of all though Star, I forgot that even though you have such a cool ex like that, in the end you ended up with me. You chose to be with me, to be in love with me and not anybody else. And if I have that, if I have you, then it doesn't matter how many awesome guys we meet, cuz I'll know I'm way cooler, at least in your eyes." Finally she cracked a smile, and with a light giggle she leaned her head against his shoulder.

And with a kiss on her forehead and a glow of her heart's all was forgiven.

"Star, hey, hey Star!" And with a snap of his fingers Cole brought her from her musings over the past and returned her to the Diaz's living room. "Jeez what was that, you just suddenly spaced and went slack jawed does that happen often."

"All. The. Time." She replied smiling, Cole sighed and stretched out his arm which instantly disappeared into a strange blue portal. When it returned there was a wad of folded up bills kept together with an elastic band. "Um, what is that?"

"This is about," he flipped through the bills with one sweep, the smacking of the paper like a sweet tune to him. "Two thousand six hundred dollars in Earth currency, take it, take Marco and go enjoy yourselves.

"Ooo, money," Star drooled slightly at the sight and began to reach forward however stopped just short of and frowned, retracting her hand. "Wait a sec, where did you get this, did you steal it?"

"What? No of course not I just reached forward in time to a moment where I would have this exact amount of money and then took it from that moment and brought it here." He said it as if were the most logical task a person could do.

"Okay sweet!" Star had decided that when it came to explanations of temporal anomalies, it was best to let Marco hear them and then have him explain it to her later on. She hopped from the couch to the stairs and then bolted up to Marcos room, leaving Cole to resume his flower play.

"Marco!" The girl sang as she kicked in his door. "Guess what, Cole just gave me a bunch of money and told me that we can go all out and do whatever we want isn't that awesome!"

Marco however didn't respond, the boy was lying face down on his bed, unmoving. If Star hadn't known of his habit of going totally still whenever he was stressed or upset she might have thought he was dead. The girl sighed and walked over to him, crawling up the bed she lay curled up next to him, waiting for him to look up.

A single brown eye moved from its face down position to look at her. It was bleary and bloodshot and Star wondered if maybe he had begun crying out frustration like he pretended not to do. She said nothing though and instead smiled, patiently waiting for him to regain enough semblance of self to talk to her.

"Go all out on what?" She grinned and pulled him into a tight squeeze, ignoring his sudden outcries. That was one of the things she loved about him, how quickly he perked up and how easily he was infected by her mood.

"Anything we want Marco, we can go and buy all the nachos you want." He laughed into her chest and wrapped his own arms around her, pulling her tightly to him.

"We can get some new clothes too, if you want." She squealed at the idea and rained kisses on his forehead and hair as his breathing slowed and he finally relaxed.

"Thanks Star," his voice wasn't more than a whisper but she still heard it, in his own way, he was also apologizing for his breakdown earlier.

"Everytime Marco," it was a phrase that the two had concocted before they were even dating, it was a secret phrase, a term of endearment and a pleasant memory of what was.

"I love you Star," he peeked out from his spot and lightly kissed her lips, she smiled and returned it.

"I love you too, Marco."


End file.
